BYU wide receiver Parker Kingston is no longer enrolled at the school after he was arrested on a first-degree felony rape charge.
The charge reportedly stems from an incident nearly a year ago in which an unidentified 20-year-old woman reported to officers at Utah’s St. George Regional Hospital. The woman claimed Kingston sexually assaulted her on Feb. 23, 2025 in St. George, Utah.
“BYU became aware today of the arrest of Parker Kingston. The university takes any allegation very seriously, and will cooperate with law enforcement. Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”
A BYU spokesperson declined to say to the Associated Press whether Kingston left school on his own or was kicked out.
The 21-year-old Kingston made a court appearance on Friday and was released on a $100,000 bond with $10,000 cash immediately paid to the court after he was held initially without bail.
“I found by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Kingston was a danger to the community,” Judge John Walton said during the hearing.
Cara Tangaro, Kingston’s defense attorney, agreed that her client could not contact his accuser or any potential witnesses, must remain off social media and wear a GPS ankle monitor to ensure he does not return to southwestern Utah county unless he’s there for a court appearance.
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Kingston faces five years to life in prison, if convicted.
Kingston was the Cougars’ leading receiver last season with 67 catches, 928 receiving yards and 5 receiving touchdowns, while also contributing 119 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. That effort earned him first-team All-Big 12 honors.
Kingston also appeared to announce his engagement at a BYU men’s basketball game on Saturday, only four days before his arrest.
MILAN — Jenning de Boo remembers exactly when he knew that he had come up short again in his bid to beat American speedskating phenom Jordan Stolz.
It was when de Boo and Stolz screamed around the final corner of Saturday night’s men’s 500 meters shoulder-to-shoulder with one another.
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“My coach said that if I wanted to beat him, I had to be the first out of the last corner,” de Boo said. “At that moment I knew he was going to take the race.”
Stolz and de Boo were by far the fastest two skaters in the 500, just as they were four days earlier in the 1,000. If they had raced in the thin air of Salt Lake City rather than at sea level in Milan, American skater Cooper McLeod believes that both would have eclipsed the world record of 33.61 seconds, which has stood since 2019.
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“That’s for sure a world record in [Salt Lake City],” McLeod said. “We just watched some pretty special, historic skating. The Olympic record was lowered by almost half a second today. That doesn’t happen.”
Hands on his head in disappointment as he rounded the curve after the finish line, de Boo looked up at the scoreboard, lost his balance and careened into the barrier along the outer edge of the ice. Stolz looked back to see if de Boo was OK, then high-fived coach Bob Corby ice-side, pumped his fist and waved to the crowd.
Stolz’s victory pushed his audacious pursuit of four Olympic gold medals into more realistic territory. He is now halfway to securing the most speedskating gold medals at one Olympics since fellow Wisconsin native Eric Heiden won a mind-blowing five at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. Still remaining for Stolz are the 1,500 on Thursday and the chaotic, unpredictable mass start event two days later.
“I felt a lot less pressure today just because I got the first one out of the way,” Stolz said. “I thought, ‘This one’s not worth stressing over because it’s going to be a tossup anyway.’ It was going to be whoever skates a really clean race between me and Jenning. We both skated clean, and I was able to win.”
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For Stolz, overcoming de Boo and an array of other fast sprinters in the 500 was potentially his most significant hurdle. This was the race where Stolz was the most vulnerable, the one that kept his coach awake at night.
Whereas Stolz has dominated the 1,000 and the 1,500 since rocketing onto the global scene three-plus years ago, he is more susceptible at a shorter distance that rewards pure speed rather than speed endurance. Stolz has won five of nine 500s contested at World Cup events so far this season. Skaters like de Boo, Damian Żurek of Poland and Kim Jun-Ho of South Korea have shown the ability to beat him.
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The way that Tuesday’s 1,000 unfolded highlighted the challenge that Stolz faced. His strategy going into the race was to try to be even with de Boo at the 600-meter mark, but when the bell sounded he trailed by four tenths of a second. While Stolz threw down a blistering final lap to surge past de Boo and secure his first career Olympic gold, his mid-race deficit raised questions about how he’d fare in the 500.
“That is a concern,” Stolz’s coach Bob Corby acknowledged earlier this week in a conversation with Yahoo Sports. “What that race did is it showed that he’s probably going to have a good 1,500. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to have a good 500. And Jenning was flying, so I think he’s going to put down a fast time on Saturday.”
On the eve of Saturday’s race, after he found out Stolz would again be paired with de Boo, Corby gave Stolz some last-minute advice. Since de Boo had the inner lane over the latter half of the race, that meant the Dutchman would be stalking Stolz from behind to potentially set up a pass on the final turn.
“So the last corner starts at the beginning of the back stretch,” Corby told Stolz. “If you’re going to win the race, you’ve got to win it on the back stretch. You’ve got to burn like you’ve never burned before.”
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Stolz executed the race strategy perfectly. Corby called it “the best 500 he ever skated.”
Before the race, de Boo thought 33.88 would have been a winning time, so he emerged from his latest duel with Stolz “a bit disappointed” not to win gold.
“I think the 500 is my best distance,” de Boo said. “This is the distance I should have done it at and that didn’t happen today.
Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.
Fact or Fiction: Chris Paul is a top-five point guard in NBA history
We have convened a Hall of Fame panel, made up entirely by me, to officially determine whether Chris Paul, a.k.a. The Point God, retires as one of the five greatest point guards in history.
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The 40-year-old Paul officially retired on Friday after being waived by the Toronto Raptors. Paul started the season with the Los Angeles Clippers, but was sent home from the team in December and eventually moved at the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
On The Bill Russell Scale, which we created to rank players’ legacies across time, Paul sits fourth among point guards, trailing only Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry and Oscar Robertson. And that probably is the definitive list of players at the position who are undoubtedly superior to Paul. But even I, the creator of The Bill Russell Scale, can recognize potential flaws, since the system bends toward favoring longevity.
Only 10 other point guards cracked the Russell Scale’s top 75 — Bob Cousy, John Stockton, Russell Westbrook, Steve Nash, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Isiah Thomas, Walt Frazier, Tony Parker and Kyrie Irving — and that is a good list of players at the position who could stake a claim to being better than Paul.
Let us start by reaffirming Johnson, Curry and Robertson as the three greatest point guards ever.
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Johnson is a five-time champion and three-time MVP who served as the NBA’s best point guard — or got the highest number of MVP votes at the position — for 10 of his 13 seasons. He is widely considered one of the 10 greatest players ever, and at 6-foot-9 he held an advantage a 6-foot Paul never could replicate.
Curry is a four-time champion. He garnered more MVP votes than any other point guard in five of his 16 seasons, winning the award twice, including unanimously in 2016. And he did it all during Paul’s career, establishing himself as undeniably the greatest shooter to ever live. He is knocking on the all-time top 10.
Robertson finished top-five in MVP voting for eight straight seasons and won the award in 1964, when Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points and Bill Russell was en route to his sixth of eight straight titles, and he was the second-best player (to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) on the 1971 champion Milwaukee Bucks.
Paul could match neither feat. He never finished higher than second in the MVP race, which he did in 2008, losing to Kobe Bryant, though he placed top five on five occasions over a 14-year stretch. He collected more MVP votes than any other point guard in five of his 21 seasons (2008-09, 2012-13, 2021).
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Every one of those 10 other point guards but Stockton can make a claim that Paul cannot, either winning an MVP or a title, and Stockton owns the NBA’s all-time records for assists and steals — by a wide margin.
Paul is second to Stockton on both lists.
Having a championship ring or an MVP trophy alone does not make someone better than Paul. Russell Westbrook, for example, won the 2017 MVP award, even if some folks do not consider him worthy (I am not one of them). If you needed to win a title, though, and had to pick between Paul and Westbrook to get you there, there are few — if any — executives in the league who would choose Westbrook over Paul.
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(Exhibit A: The Houston Rockets from 2017-20.)
While Irving won as the second-best player (to LeBron James) on the 2016 champion Cleveland Cavaliers, he has never achieved the heights as a player that Paul did. Not once has Irving received an MVP vote, let alone ranked as the league’s best point guard, in any of his 14 seasons. Something similar could be said of Tony Parker, who never made an All-NBA First Team, as his San Antonio Spurs won four championships.
Paul earned four All-NBA First Team selections, as did Frazier, who won championships as the league’s best point guard for the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. Frazier peaked over a seven-year stretch. Paul’s prime lasted twice as long, and his longevity has to count for something. That argument is close.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Chris Paul (3) in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
It is closer still to Stockton, Nash, Payton and Kidd. Stockton recorded 3,254 more assists and 537 more steals in his career than Paul, though he never finished higher than seventh in any MVP voting. Nash won back-to-back MVPs in the mid-2000s, but he never made an All-Defensive roster. Paul, on the other hand, made nine All-Defensive teams, as did Payton and Kidd, who each won a championship later in his career.
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We could easily imagine Paul winning a title as a bit player on the right team. He just never found it. And we could make the case that Paul’s path to the 2021 NBA Finals as the second-best player on the Phoenix Suns was every bit as impressive as anything Payton and Kidd accomplished, including Payton’s trip to the 1996 NBA Finals and Kidd’s back-to-back Finals appearances.
But we are not here to debate whether Paul belongs among the 10 best point guards ever. The question posed was whether he is one of the best five, and I think there are two others definitely ahead of him.
Cousy won the league’s 1957 MVP honor during a span when he was the NBA’s best point guard for more than a decade. He was also the second-best player (to Russell) on six championship teams. Sure, you can make the argument that Paul would have dominated in the 1950s, but you could also say that — with the benefit of modern-day training — Cousy may have been every bit as good. What we cannot really debate is whether Paul would have been Paul if not for Cousy, for he revolutionized the position as we know it.
Thomas was the best player on back-to-back championship teams in 1989 and 1990, at a time when Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were plying their trade. Might Paul have steered those stout Detroit Pistons defenses to titles in that era? Maybe, but getting the job done must count for something.
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So, too, must Paul’s failures in big moments. His collapse as a member of the Clippers against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals remains a stain on his legacy. He was also on the floor for multiple other collapses, including Game 6 of the 2015 conference semifinals.
Injuries marred several other opportunities in the playoffs, including 2017 and 2018, but that is part of the game. Just ask Thomas, who tore his Achilles and retired at age 32 — but not after he accomplished something that Paul simply cannot touch, back-to-back titles as his team’s best player in a stacked era.
So, there you have it, folks — a pretty clear top five: Johnson, Curry, Robertson, Cousy and Thomas.
Paul just as clearly belongs in the top 10, along with Stockton, Nash, Payton and Kidd. Then, we must figure where Frazier belongs, and whom he replaces in the top 10, but that is a debate for a different day.
Determination: Fiction. Paul is more comfortably in the top 10 than he is any top five.
The 2026 Slam Dunk Contest at the NBA’s All-Star Weekend is always a sight to behold. The event, held on All-Star Saturday, will be the last in a night of exciting competitions, including the 3-point contest and the Shooting Stars competition, and this time around, we’re guaranteed to have a new dunk champion. (Mac McClung, who has won for three years running, has opted out this year.) The four competitors this year will be the San Antonio Spurs forward Carter Bryant, Miami Heat forward Keshad Johnson, Orlando Magic guard Jase Richardson, and L.A. Lakers center Jaxson Hayes.
The slam dunk contest will close out the All-Star Saturday broadcast, which begins at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and streams live on Peacock. Find out more about how to watch Saturday’s slam dunk contest and get the full NBA All-Star Weekend schedule below.
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How to watch the 2026 slam dunk contest at NBA All-Star Weekend:
Date: Feb. 14
Time: 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
Location: Intuit Dome
TV channel: NBC
Streaming: Peacock
When is the 2026 slam dunk contest during NBA All-Star Weekend?
The AT&T Slam Dunk Contest will take place the day before the All-Star Game; you can tune in to the 3-Point contest, the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest and the Kia Shooting Stars competition starting at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 14.
What channel is the 2026 slam dunk contest on?
The Majority of NBA All-Star Weekend events will air on NBC and stream live on Peacock, and that includes the slam dunk contest.
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Who is participating in the NBA All-Star slam dunk contest?
Keshad Johnson, Miami Heat
Jase Richardson, Orlando Magic
Carter Bryant, San Antonio Spurs
Jaxson Hayes, Los Angeles Lakers
When is the 2026 NBA All-Star game?
The 2026 NBA All-Star Championship Game will be held this Sunday, Feb. 15. The first game starts at 5 p.m. ET.
NBA All-Star Weekend schedule:
Friday, Feb. 13
Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game: 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Rising Stars Game 1 – Team Melo vs. Team Austin: 9 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Rising Stars Game 2 – Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac: 9:55 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Castrol Rising Stars Championship: 10:35 p.m. ET (Peacock)
NBA HBCU Classic (Hampton vs. North Carolina A&T): 11 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Saturday, Feb. 14
NBA All-Star Media Day presented by AT&T: 1:30 p.m. ET (NBA App, NBA TV)
Commissioner Adam Silver News Conference: 4 p.m. ET (NBA App, NBA TV)
NBA All-Star Saturday Night: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
State Farm 3-Point Contest: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
Kia Shooting Stars: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
Sunday, Feb. 15
NBA G League Next Up Game: 2:30 p.m. ET (NBA App)
All-Star Game 1 – Stars vs. World: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Game 2 – Stripes vs. Game 1 Winner: 5:55 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Game 3 – Stripes vs. Game 1 Loser: 6:25 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Championship: 7:10 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
How to watch the 2026 slam dunk contest without cable:
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
NBA All-Star Weekend is always one of the most fun sports events of the year, and 2026 is sure to be as lively as ever. While we love to watch the All-Star Game itself (which will debut a new round-robin competition format this year), there’s nothing like watching the pros face off during exhibitions like the slam dunk contest and the 3-point contest. This year, the 3-point contest will feature players like Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey and Bobby Portis Jr., as well as one somewhat surprising competitor, Damian Lillard, who has spent the entire season on the bench with an Achilles injury. Lillard is a two-time 3-point contest winner.
The 3-point contest will kick off the All-Star Saturday broadcast on NBC and streaming on Peacock. Find out more about who else is competing, when to tune in, and get the full NBA All-Star Weekend schedule below.
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How to watch the 2026 3-point contest at NBA All-Star Weekend:
Date: Feb. 14
Time: 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT
Location: Intuit Dome
TV channel: NBC
Streaming: Peacock
When is the 2026 3-point contest during NBA All-Star Weekend?
The State Farm 3-Point Contest will take place the day before the All-Star Game; you can tune in to the 3-point contest, the AT&T Slam Dunk Contest and the Kia Shooting Stars competition starting at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 14.
What channel is the 2026 3-point contest on?
The Majority of NBA All-Star Weekend events will air on NBC and stream live on Peacock, and that includes the 3-point contest.
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Who is playing in the NBA All-Star 3-point contest?
Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Kon Kneuppel, Charlotte Hornets
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Bobby Portis, Milwaukee Bucks
Norman Powell, Miami Heat
How to watch the 2026 3-point contest without cable:
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
More ways to watch NBA All-Star Weekend for free:
When is the 2026 NBA All-Star game?
The 2026 NBA All-Star Championship Game will be held this Sunday, Feb. 15.
NBA All-Star Weekend schedule:
Friday, Feb. 13
Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game: 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Rising Stars Game 1 – Team Melo vs. Team Austin: 9 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Rising Stars Game 2 – Team Vince vs. Team T-Mac: 9:55 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Castrol Rising Stars Championship: 10:35 p.m. ET (Peacock)
NBA HBCU Classic (Hampton vs. North Carolina A&T): 11 p.m. ET (Peacock)
Saturday, Feb. 14
NBA All-Star Media Day presented by AT&T: 1:30 p.m. ET (NBA App, NBA TV)
Commissioner Adam Silver News Conference: 4 p.m. ET (NBA App, NBA TV)
NBA All-Star Saturday Night: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
State Farm 3-Point Contest: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
Kia Shooting Stars: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
AT&T Slam Dunk Contest: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
Sunday, Feb. 15
NBA G League Next Up Game: 2:30 p.m. ET (NBA App)
All-Star Game 1 – Stars vs. World: 5 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Game 2 – Stripes vs. Game 1 Winner: 5:55 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Game 3 – Stripes vs. Game 1 Loser: 6:25 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
All-Star Championship: 7:10 p.m. ET (NBC, Peacock)
Who is playing in the NBA All-Star Game?
USA Stars
Head coach: J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit Pistons)
Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors
Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
USA Stripes
Head coach: Mitch Johnson (San Antonio Spurs)
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors*
Brandon Ingram, Toronto Raptors
Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Norman Powell, Miami Heat
World
Head coach: Darko Rajaković
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers
Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder*
Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers
Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
“*” denotes unable to play because of injury
Who is participating in the NBA All-Star slam dunk contest?
The Unrivaled women’s basketball league is taking a break from its signature 3-on-3 games this week to hold the second annual 1-on-1 in-season tournament. 32 of the league’s 48 players will participate in the tournament that runs from Wednesday, Feb. 11, through Saturday, Feb. 14. Expect to see players like Paige Bueckers, Kelsey Mitchell, Breanna Stewart, and Aaliyah Edwards competing for the $200,000 grand prize. (The tournament runner-up will receive $50,000, and the last two semifinalists will get $25,000.) Last year’s 1-on-1 winner, Napheesa Collier, is sitting this one out; she’s missing the entire Unrivaled season due to ankle surgery.
Find out who else is participating in this year’s Unrivaled 1-on-1 Tournament, how to watch every matchup, and learn more about the regular Unrivaled season now.
Where to watch the Unrivaled 1-on-1 women’s basketball tournament on TV:
All Unrivaled 1-on-1 basketball games will air on either TNT or truTV.
Where to watch the Unrivaled 1-on-1 women’s basketball tournament without cable:
The entire Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament will stream on HBO Max. You can also tune in to TNT and truTV on platforms including Hulu + Live TV and DirecTV.
Unrivaled 1-on-1 Tournament schedule:
First round
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m. ET (truTV, HBO Max)
Second round and quarterfinals
Friday, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. ET (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
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Semifinals and championship
Saturday, Feb. 14, 6 p.m. ET (TNT, tru TV, HBO Max)
Who is competing in the 2026 Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament?
32 of the league’s best players are participating in the Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament. The players were split into four, eight-player pods based on position. Seeding was determined by fans, players, coaches and media voting.
First round matchups Pod A
No. 1 Kelsey Mitchell vs. No. 8 Rachel Banham No. 2 Kelsey Plum vs. No. 7 Natisha Hiedeman No. 3 Skylar Diggins vs. No. 6 Jordin Canada No. 4 Courtney Williams vs. No. 5 Veronica Burton
Pod B
No. 1 Paige Bueckers vs. No. 8 Kate Martin No. 2 Chelsea Gray vs. No. 7 Natasha Cloud No. 3 Jackie Young vs. No. 6 Tiffany Hayes No. 4 Arike Ogunbowale vs. No. 5 Brittney Sykes
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Pod C
No. 1 Allisha Gray vs. No. 8 Saniya Rivers No. 2 Rhyne Howard vs. No. 7 Rae Burrell No. 3 Marina Mabrey vs. No. 6 Sonia Citron No. 4 Kahleah Copper vs. No. 5 Rickea Jackson
Pod D
No. 1 Breanna Stewart vs. No. 8 Li Yueru No. 2 Aaliyah Edwards vs. No. 7 Dominique Malonga No. 3 Dearica Hamby vs. No. 6 Shakira Austin No. 4 Aliyah Boston vs. No. 5 Alyssa Thomas
What are the rules of the 1-on-1 tournament?
The first four rounds of the 1-on-1 tournament (round one through the semifinals) are single-elimination. Games are played to 11 points, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first. After that, the championship will be a best-of-three series, with games played to eight points, by 2s and 3s, or 10 minutes, whichever comes first.
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Who is competing in the 2026 Unrivaled 3-on-3 league?
The Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball league is made up of 54 players and eight teams: Laces, Hive, Breeze, Lunar Owls, Mist, Phantom, Vinyl and last year’s champions, Rose. While the league features some of the biggest names in the WNBA, there are a few who declined to play this season, including Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, A’ja Wilson, and Sabrino Ionescu. You can see who’s on the team rosters below.
Lindsey Vonn announced via Instagram on Saturday that her latest surgery went well and she plans to return to the U.S.
“Surgery went well today,” Vonn said in her post. “Thankfully, I will be able to finally go back to the US 🇺🇸! Once I’m back I will give you more updates and info about my injury.”
The 41-year-old American skier fractured her left leg 13 seconds into her downhill race Sunday. Vonn had previously trained on a torn ACL in the same left leg, an injury she suffered just days before the start of the Olympics. She had her fourth surgery on Saturday and could need more procedures done once she returns to the U.S.
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Despite how things ended, Vonn wrote that her ACL tear had nothing to do with her crash and that she did not want her fans to feel sad.
“Please, don’t be sad,” Vonn wrote. “Empathy, love and support I welcome with an open heart, but please not sadness or sympathy. I hope instead it gives you strength to keep fighting, because that is what I am doing and that is what I will continue to do. Always.”
Vonn also said that after the crash that she knew there could be consequences, but thought it was worth the risk.
Nothing in life is guaranteed. That’s the gamble of chasing your dreams, you might fall but if you don’t try you’ll never know.
So please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains. I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.
Vonn retired in 2019 before deciding to return in 2024 following a knee replacement. One of the most decorated skiers of all time, Vonn has three Olympic medals (one gold and two bronze) and eight World Championship medals. In December, she became the oldest downhill skiing World Cup winner in St. Moritz, her first World Cup wins since 2018.
MILAN — Team USA might have it on a formula to get it through the rough stretches of these Olympics: When all else fails, just add Brady.
Brady Tkachuk threw hands late in the first period, then threw an equalizer into the net halfway through the second to rally a frustrated Team USA to a key 6-3 victory over Denmark. Six different Americans scored, a necessary, if erratic, and late-arriving offensive explosion.
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“He’s a beast. His energy is contagious,” Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan said after the game. “He’s so vocal on the bench, in between periods. He’s a positive guy. He drags everybody into the fight, literally and figuratively.”
But not all wins are victories. This was a sloppy, subpar effort from a United States team that needs to be playing at a much higher level if it hopes to bring home a gold against Canada. When your All-Star squad is getting pushed around by a team with only five current NHL players and prospects on its roster, there’s work to be done between now and the knockout rounds.
Brady Tkachuk scored the equalizer and the U.S. men’s hockey team took control to hand Denmark another loss in group play Saturday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
(JULIEN DE ROSA via Getty Images)
Sullivan opted to go with Jeremy Swayman in goal, sending Connor Hellebuyck to the bench. The move seemed like a good opportunity to give Swayman some ice time against an inferior opponent. It didn’t quite work out that way.
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Denmark doesn’t really have any on-paper advantages against the United States, so the Danes pressed their one strength — a fast, agile frontline — and did their best to slow down the game by harassing the United States from every angle. The move paid immediate dividends in the opening minutes, as Denmark’s Nick Olesen punched in a goal through a scrum less than two minutes into the game.
Team USA’s Matt Boldy scored an equalizer on a wraparound less than two minutes later, and for a few minutes, order seemed to be restored. But then Denmark’s Nicholas Jensen fired a shot from the neutral zone, just inside the red line, blowing it right past Swayman for an embarrassingly easy goal. So easy, in fact, that it’s entirely possible Swayman lost the puck against the inexplicably black boards that line the ice in Milan.
“I’m color-blind, so it doesn’t matter to me,” Swayman smiled after the game. “It’s something all of us goalies have to face. We play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so it’s just a challenge we have to embrace.”
The first period ended with the United States holding a 12-7 shot advantage but a frustrating 2-1 deficit on the scoreboard. Perhaps for that reason, Tkachuk decided to punch Oliver Lauridsen’s helmet off, but the Olympic referees intervened before any real hostilities could ensue.
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Denmark continued to fluster the United States’ offense, hassling the Americans right through a second-period power play, frustrating Team USA right up until the moment that Tkachuk evened up matters. Tkachuk, off a face-off win by Jack Eichel, rifled a shot right past Danish goalie Mads Sogaard to tie the game at 2 apiece.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling, scoring for your country,” Tkachuk said. “You get so much energy from this crowd, feel their support. It’s an amazing experience.”
From there, Denmark’s defense turned rotten, allowing a goal by Eichel less than a minute after Tkachuk’s, and then another by Noah Hanifin with less than three minutes remaining in the period. Still, just to remind the United States not to start counting their Free Birds, Danish defenseman Phillip Bruggisser poked through a shot with just three seconds remaining to send the game to the final period at 4-3.
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The third period was a grind, pure and simple. Despite holding well over a 2:1 shot-on-goal advantage through most of the game, and despite keeping the puck largely on the Danish end, the United States struggled to close out Denmark until Jake Guentzel lasered a one-timer past Sogaard.
With 8:53 remaining, Danish head coach Mikael Gath swapped in goalkeeper Frederik Dichow, but it didn’t do much good; Jack Hughes added another dagger with just over five minutes remaining.
“Give them credit, they played really hard and were opportunistic,” Eichel said. “No game’s going to be easy, we realize that.”
The victory leaves the United States in position to advance out of the group stage, but questions will persist about the team’s ability to fight through physical opponents and keep from making crucial mental mistakes. Survive and advance is a decent strategy; thrive and advance is a better one.
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Next up: Germany and Leon Draisaitl in the final game of Group C play. The United States has little time for a turnaround.
“They’re a good team,” Sullivan said. “So are we.”
Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.
Fact or Fiction: The NBA’s response is enough to curb its tanking epidemic
The NBA’s tanking problem, it seems, creeps earlier and earlier into the season, to the point that two teams were fined on Thursday for violating the league’s tanking policies.
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“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory?” NBA commissioner Adam Silver asked himself during a media availability on Saturday. “Yes.”
In consecutive games against the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, the Utah Jazz removed Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. prior to fourth quarters that were still in doubt and never reinserted either former All-Star into the contests. The Jazz blew a 17-point lead in the final 13:49 of a 120-117 loss to the Magic and actually held on to defeat the Heat 115-111.
Asked how close he came to subbing Markkanen and Jackson back in, Jazz coach Will Hardy said plainly, “I wasn’t,” blatantly baiting the league into taking action against them.
So, there you had it: The Jazz were clearly undermining the integrity of the game, and an opposing player called them on it, which resulted in a $500,000 fine for Utah’s franchise.
“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” Silver said in Thursday’s press release. “Additionally, we are working with our competition committee and board of governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
The league’s board of governors plans to meet in March, when tanking will be a hot topic.
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“We’re all in this together,” Silver added on Saturday, urging the NBA’s teams to follow its rules. “We want to have fair competition, we want to have fair systems and to keep an eye on the fans, most importantly, and their expectation that we’re going to be putting the best product forward.”
Exactly. And faith in what is a broken system is no solution. Nor are fines.
Jazz governor Ryan Smith is worth an estimated $2.6 billion, which means that $500,000 is about the same as $1 to someone who has $5,000 in his savings account. This is hardly a disincentive when the prize on the other end of their tank job — a high-end pick in what is considered a loaded draft — could increase the franchise’s value by hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars. Consider what Stephen Curry did for the Golden State Warriors.
As long as losing is the way to get the most ping-pong balls in the NBA’s annual draft lottery, teams that have no hope for the playoffs are going to intentionally lose games.
Jaren Jackson Jr. looks on from the bench during the first half of a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Delta Center on Feb. 12, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
(Alex Goodlett via Getty Images)
This is an epidemic. As much as a third of the league has every incentive to lose from here on out, especially the Jazz and Washington Wizards, who each owe their first-round picks to other teams if they do not fall in the bottom eight. The playoff fields in each conference are all but set — with two months to go in the regular season. There is little left to play for.
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The season is too long, and there are financial reasons why team owners would not want to give up regular-season games — for the gate receipts. But what are they selling to fans? Stars are resting for all or parts of these games, and the product is, at best, watered down. At worst? Some of the product is essentially rigged, with one or both teams trying to lose.
Think a $100,00 fine against the Indiana Pacers for resting a healthy Pascal Siakam is going to dissuade Indiana from trying everything in its power to secure a top-three pick — and the rights to AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson or Cameron Boozer — in the draft? Think again.
The Pacers are hoping and praying that Dybantsa, Peterson or Boozer, or whomever they get, eventually commands half a billion dollars in salary and is worth every penny to them.
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If the NBA must fine teams, it must fine them ping-pong balls, hitting them where it counts in the lottery and removing the incentive to lose. Teams will learn real quick not to tank.
“There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior,” conceded Silver.
Maybe it is time to scrap the lottery entirely. Make it a wheel. Drastic measures are required to root out a serious problem. What the NBA does about gambling, salary cap circumvention and its All-Star Game are other matters, but this issue seems fixable.
“We’ve got to look at some fresh thinking,” Silver added on Saturday. “What we’re doing, what we’re seeing right now is not working; there’s no question about it. Yes, is there more I can do? Have I attempted not only to respond to behavior we’ve seen but send a clear message that we’re going to be scrutinizing everything we see going forward? Absolutely.”
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As is, the Jazz assigned season-ending surgery to Jackson for a non-cancerous growth in his knee. Even though the procedure is necessary, Utah’s actions leave us to wonder if the team might have elected to postpone Jackson’s surgery if it had any incentive to win.
Likewise, the Wizards apparently traded for both Trae Young and Anthony Davis with the reported intention of resting both stars for the remainder of the season. What is the NBA going to do — convince Young that a lingering quad injury is no longer a concern? Tell Davis not to worry about the hand and groin injuries that he sustained on the Dallas Mavericks?
It is too easy for teams to find reasons to rest their stars in pursuit of losses. Anyone can have some sore soft tissue, and no amount of NBA investigation may discover otherwise.
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As Silver conceded, “It’s so clear that the incentives are misaligned.”
So, what to do if you are the NBA? Incentivize winning, maybe. Give the No. 1 pick to the non-playoff team that wins the most games after the All-Star break, or something like that. This is hardly a revolutionary idea, and it would surely lead to more problems (for example, would not teams try to duck out of the play-in tournament?), but it is at least something.
And something is better than what we have now, which is a gamble — accepting the league’s fines in hopes of landing a franchise savior — that billionaires are willing to take.
Otherwise, fans will have to take the issue into their own hands and stop going to or tuning in to these games. Paying $1,000 for a family of four to see a game that may or may not feature its star players is, on the other hand, a gamble most fans may no longer make.
The Portland Trail Blazers star, who hasn’t played an NBA game since April 27, won his third NBA 3-point contest Saturday, joining Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only three-time winners of the event. He had previously won back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024.
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Lillard defeated Devin Booker and Kon Knueppel in the championship round, with Norman Powell, Bobby Portis Jr., Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Maxey falling short in the first round.
Lillard, going last in the eight-player field in the first round, actually appeared in trouble after three racks. He needed to catch Mitchell at 24 just to reach the final, but had only 13 points when approaching his final 10 balls. He then made nine of those 10 shots to stun the Intuit Dome crowd.
Knueppel was the first to go in the championship round and posted only 17 points, far fewer than his 27 in the first round. Lillard was up next and this time, never looked vulnerable. He made at least four shots in every rack but his last one, making a statement with 30 points.
Then came Booker, who topped the first round with 30 and soon looked on his way to a victory. The 2018 3-point contest champ had 27 points and three balls left, all of them moneyballs. He needed to make two for the win — and got zero.
“I was praying on his downfall,” Lillard said after the contest.
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Basketball hasn’t been kind to Lillard in recent years, between his struggles with the Milwaukee Bucks and then the Achilles injury. He rejoined the Blazers last offseason on a three-year, $42 million deal after the Bucks waived and stretched him, with the understanding that he might not make an appearance this season.
Fortunately, even as he waits for that Achilles to reach 100%, he could still shoot. And now the Blazers have a little more reason for confidence they’ll be getting one of the NBA’s best shooters back when he’s ready.
